Is fishing gendered? Women as equal partners in KRS reservoir fisheries, India

Velumani, P., Ananthan, P.S, Ramasubramanian, Ramakrishna ICAR-Central Institute Of Fisheries Education, Mumbai, India

Reservoirs are the single largest inland fisheries resource covered 3.15 million ha area in India.

Classification –Small (<1000 ha), Medium(1000-5000 ha), Large (>5000 ha), ( MoA).

Estimated fish production- Small (49.50 kg/ha), Medium(12.30 kg/ha) and Large(11.43 kg/ha), (Sugunan, 1995).

In terms of cost of production, aquaculture requires about Rs.10,000 crore to produce 1 million ton of fish whereas the fish production from reservoirs require a far less investment (sugunan,2007,2014).

Today Karnataka occupies a prominent position in the reservoir resources of the country.

Large reservoirs constitute 80% of the total area, followed by the medium (13%) and small (7%) ones, (Sugunan, 1995).

It is Important to study the fisheries development and fishers’ development in the reservoirs, mainly identify gap and problems of fish productivity and fishers’ development.

Introduction

Locale of Study

(Independent women fisher + fishing together/individual men fisher)

20

37

93

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

INDEPENDENT WOMEN FISHER

INDEPENDENT MEN FISHER

FISHING TOGETHER

Sample Compostion n=150

Increase/decrease in number of independent women fisher depends on the per day fish catch

Independent women fisher involvement higher after the fishing ban season mainly availability higher fish catch

Hydrological profile of Reservoir

General Information Krishna Raja Sagar reservoir

Name of the river Cauvery

Year of impoundment 1944

Location of reservoir Mandya and Mysore (Southern India)

Reservoir

Water spread area of reservoir 12,924 ha at FRL

1960 ha at DSL

Catchment area 10619 km2

Irrigation potential / command area 50,000 ha

Elevation at Dead Storage Level (D.S.L.) Mean Depth Length of shoreline

R.L 18.288 m 30.17 m 292 km

Dam

Height of the dam 39.8 m (130.80 ft)

Length of the dam 2620 m (8600 ft)

No. of sluices 21

Governance - KRS

Water Resources Department of Karnataka

Fishermen Cooperative Society- Hampapura

Department of Fisheries (DoF)

Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Limited (CNNL)

Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Limited (KNNL)

Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam limited (KBJNL)

Fishing Rights

Leased 2008 to 2017

Fisherwomen Cooperative Society

Cauvery Dalit Backward Fisherwomen Cooperative

Society (Dysfunctional)

Ownership

Particulars Up to 2007 2008 -2017

Leasing/ licensing system

- Licensing system by DoF - Drag net -₹ 12000/per unit/year - Gillnet and others- ₹ 500-1000/per unit - Revenue for DoF- ₹ 132787/year - Criteria: Residence within 5km periphery of reservoir.

- DoF lease to Fishermen Cooperative Society-Hampapura (Nodal agency) - Lease amount ₹ 2,40,825 (2008- 09 )

₹14,32,098 (2016-17) - Renewed for another 5 more years from 2013 - In practice: Managed by private contractor

Stocking Arrangement - DoF responsible for stocking - Average stocking – 4 lakhs fry/year (Common Carp, Rohu and Mirgal) - Average stocking density -51fry /ha

- FCS responsible for stocking - Average stocking- 114 lakh advanced fry/year (IMC and Common Carp) - Average stocking density -1531/ha

Fisheries Profile

S.N Particulars Krishna Raja Sagar Reservoir

1 Effective Water Spread Area (ha) 7442 ha

2 Major Fish Species Catla catla, Labeo calbasu, Cirrhinus mrigala, Cyprinus

carpio, Ompok pabda,

3 Minor Fish Species Channa spp., Oreochromis niloticus

Oreochromis mossambicus, Puntius ticto

4 Fish production tons/year 220.15 tons (2015-16) Peek 758 tones (2012-13)

5 Seed stocked 96 lakhs advanced fry (2012-13)

6 Stocking density / ha

(Advanced fry)

1289

7 Fish catch/fisher Per day average catch 4.38 kg

Peak fishing season the catch range from 20-80 kg

Source: Fisheries Cooperative Society, KRS

Fishers Profile

S.N. Particulars Krishna Raja Sagar Reservoir

1 Location Mandya and Mysore districts Karnataka

2 No. of fishing villages 25

3 No. of Fishers’ 593 (DoF, 2016)

4 Religion Hindu and Muslim

5 Infrastructure facilities available

Primary, Secondary and Higher School

facilities, Primary Health care centres etc.

6 Education / Literacy rate*

70.40% (Mandya) 72.79% (Mysore)

Economic survey-2015-16, Govt. of Karnataka

Factionalism within FCS- Two group of fishers

Conflict between Contractor and DoF

After 2013 the stocking has stopped and subsequently production decreased

Fishers’ want: Licensing system (2018 onwards licensing system)

Paradox: Licensing may benefit fishers by removing contractor but may not help

improve stocking / increase catch in short term unless DoF / FCS is turned

around.

Ongoing litigation

• Nativity: All the fishers were native to the reservoir. Though the Tamil speaking fishers

are present in the reservoir periphery, they have become permanent inhabitants.

• Religion: In reservoir periphery 92% are Hindus and 8% are Muslims

• Language: Majority of fishers 63.3% speak Kannada, 29.3% speak Tamil and 7.3% are

Urdu speaking

• Family type / size: In reservoir region nearly 68% live in nuclear family and 60.75% have

family size of less than 5 members.

Social profile n=150

Sub-caste

Sub-caste Percentage

Sembadavar (OBC) 26.3

Nayakka (ST) 20

Gowda (OBC) 4

Bestha (OBC) 2

Muslim(OBC) 8

Dalit (SC) 39.7

North bank fishers all come under the SC category, were Sembadavars are (OBC) distributed both Meenakshipura and Hampapura fishing villages.

n=150

Mean age of women fisher = 33.75 Mean age of men fisher = 37.86

35%

62%

3%

Men Fisher

<35

35-59

>59

n=130

50% 49%

1%

Women Fisher

<35

35-59

>59

n=113

Age (years)

Mean year of schooling of women fisher is 2.8 Mean year of schooling of men fisher is 2.5

66% 12%

17%

4% 1%

Men Fisher

Illiterate

Primary

Secondary

Higher secondary

Graduate

n=130

67% 7%

19% 6%

1%

Women Fisher

Illiterate

Primary

Secondary

Higher secondary

Graduate

n=113

Education

Occupation

• All respondents were full time fishers; fish throughout year and repair their own nets; No secondary occupation

• Type of fishing Occupation: Only capture

fisheries. Seed stocking on reservoir carried out by cooperative society / DoF.

• About 80% of household income come from

fishing; Rest contributed by other household members engaged in other occupation

13

5

1 1

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Father Husband own Neighbour

Source of Learning to Fish

Average year of Experience in Fishing = 25 years

Fishing Generation = 3

n=20

Average Annual fishing income of Independent

women fisher ₹ 51,525 Average Annual fishing income of Independent

men fisher ₹ 46,701

Average Annual fishing income of

together fishing ₹ 55,294

69%

29%

2%

Annual Fishing Income - Fishing Together

<60000

60000-120000

>120000

n=93

Conclusion/Broader Inference

1. Reservoir has high productivity (110 kg/ha) but stocking is

must (low productivity- 22 kg/ha when not stocked).

2. The study evident that women as equal partner in KRS

reservoir fisheries either Independent or together fishing.

3. Additional income of women fisher (some instances it become

primary source of household income) helps to improve the

overall development of household.

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